Theses and Dissertations- A Guide to Writing in Social and Physic

THE PROBLEM Introduction Statement of the Problem Assumptions Underlying the Study General Research Hypotheses Signitlcance of the Study Delimitations Detlnitions and Operational Terms S

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications Department of Educational Leadership

1997

Theses and Dissertations: A Guide to Writing in

Social and Physical Sciences

Isadore Newman

Florida International University

Carolyn Ridenour

University of Dayton, cridenour1@udayton.edu

David M Weis

The University of Akron

Keith McNeil

New Mexico State University

Follow this and additional works at: http://ecommons.udayton.edu/eda_fac_pub

Part of the Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons , and the Educational Leadership Commons

This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Educational Leadership at eCommons It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Leadership Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of eCommons For more information, please contactfrice1@udayton.edu, mschlangen1@udayton.edu.

eCommons Citation

Newman, Isadore; Ridenour, Carolyn; Weis, David M.; and McNeil, Keith, "Theses and Dissertations: A Guide to Writing in Social

and Physical Sciences" (1997) Educational Leadership Faculty Publications 82.

http://ecommons.udayton.edu/eda_fac_pub/82

Chapter 1 The Problem

This chapter discusses the components of what is usually found in chapter 1 of a dissertation or master's thesis The material will be presented in the same order as identitled in Exhibit 1.1

Exhibit 1.1 Table of contents for chapter 1

Chapter

1 THE PROBLEM

Introduction

Statement of the Problem

Assumptions Underlying the Study

General Research Hypotheses

Signitlcance of the Study

Delimitations

Detlnitions and Operational Terms

Summary

You need to have a lot of ideas, and then you have to throw away the bad ones Linus Pauling

Introduction

TIP: Never start your paper with a quotation

The Introduction section of chapter 1 contains a brief reference to literature pertinent to the research study Include very few references in chapter I only those that are essential to represent the rationale for the study The introduction introduces the subject under study to a reader who is unfamiliar with the topic area Specifically, the introduction presents the major emphasis and significance of the study brieHy and in broad terms It is a good idea to state at the beginning of the chapter what the problem to be investigated is Thus, the first sentence should begin, "This study was conducted to " The introduction puts the study into the context for the reader, emphasizing why it is important It

is perhaps ideal to aim the material at a person who is knowledgeable of the field, but not necessarily deeply involved in the problem you are studying Exhibit 1.2 contains an introduction from a dissertation Exhibit 1.2 Example introduction from a dissertation

Introduction

Since 1920, there has been a geometric increase in the use of educational technology to enhance instructional procedures The success

of this educational technology has been mixed The classroom technology of the 1980s and 1990s has been computer applications The estimate for software related to education for 1988 has been given as 500 million dollars (Smith, 1987) Community expectations have no doubt affected the computerization of many schools There is an estimate of 60 million microcomputers in homes across the US, many of which are used for instruction or skill advancement purposes

Computer Assisted Instruction (CAl) has become a major educational tool for developing curriculum, and a vehicle for providing instruction Many educators believe CAl to be one of the most effective ways to improve academic achievement of students An analysis of over

400 studies (Schwalb, ] 982) has shown positive results of CAl on student learning

I

Nothing is interesting if you're not interested Helen MacInness

Our minds possess by n.ature an insatiable desire to know the truth Marcus Tullius Cicero

A mind that is stretched to a new idea never returns to its original dimension Oliver Wendell Holmes

A problem well stated is a problem half solved Charles

Kettering

Statement of the Problem

15

The Statement of the Problem section presents a formal and succinct statement of the problem to be investigated It answers the question of WHAT is being done in the study The writer must establish that the problem is an important one, and that it is feasible to research it That

is, the answer to the problem will lie in the data obtained Speculative questions require speculative answers and thus do not meet the criteria of

a researchable problem

TIP: Pick a problem that you have a genuine professional interest in one that you do not have a personal interest in to the extent that you are out to prove something Such emotional ties often blind the researcher from the resulting data

In thinking, planning, and writing the problem section, one should ask, "What are the possible results of this research, and what impact will those results have on the knowledge base?" Answers to these questions not only provide insight for the discussion chapter, but also justify the import of the study to the reader In addition, the general research hypotheses of the study should be clearly implied from the statement of the problem, as illustrated by Exhibit 1.3

Never assume the obvious is true William Safire

Assumptions Underlying the Study

Assumptions must be included in chapter 1 Underlying assumptions are present in every research study Allowing them to only be implicit

Exhibit 1.3 A Statement of the Problem section from a dissertation

Statement of the Problem

This study will investigate the relationship between the use of CAl and achievement gains in a representative sample of high school students

in the US

This study will be longitudinal in that participants will be studied at two points in time, 1980 and 1986 More specifically, this investigation will test the relationship between the students' frequency of use of CAl and their achievement gains on standardized tests and teacher assigned grades in 1980 and the amount of postsecondary education completed in

1986

and not explicit prevents the reader from understanding what the researcher is assuming "to begin with." These assumptions answer several questions: What is the researcher starting with? What is the researcher's view of the phenomenon under study and the methods chosen to study it? What does the researcher believe? What does the researcher accept as knowledge or data?

The stated assumptions place the research in context They establish the conditions under which the study is assumed to be taking place As such, these statements protect the researcher's intentions from being misconstrued by the reader Assumptions describe in a normative fashion what is not necessary to reference to published sources In other words, assumptions are "givens"; there is no requirement to cite sources, although some researchers might opt to do so

Such phenomena as societal conditions, school structures, data types, and performance systems can be assumed rather than justified with evidence Say a researcher is investigating whether there is a relationship between anxiety and academic ability She may assume that

an IQ test score reflects the level of academic ability This assumption

is better stated than left unstated and thus unacknowledged or unclear to the reader

TIP: State the assumptions in a series of numbered sentences, as briefly

as possible so that what is assumed is clear

TIP: In the statement of an assumption, consider stating the reason(s)

The Problem 17

why it was necessary to make the assumption If there is a reason for believing an assumption is true, state the reason If an assumption is questionable, consider casting it as a limitation

The research question subsumes a particular set of "givens" based on the philosophical paradigm I,mdergirding it When a researcher is sampling participants from a population and testing hypotheses, there are various assumptions that the researcher should acknowledge These include the ability to generalize from the sample to the population Assumptions differ from "delimitations" and "limitations" but are similar to both Assumptions are statements of beliefs and knowledge claims within the researcher's mind They can be thought of as internal

"Delimitations" (constraints imposed by the researcher) and

"limitations" (constraints imposed by the results of the data collection process) are statements external to the researcher and more technical and idiosyncratic to the particular study being reported Exhibit 1.4 contains

an assumptions paragraph from a dissertation

Exhibit 1.4 Assumptions example from a dissertation

Assumptions

Several assumptions underlie this study First, the researcher assumes that the participants investigated are a representative sample of high school students from across the country Second, various applications of CAl technology are sufficiently generic in their relationship to learning to combine results and test CAl effects on academic achievement gains Third, it is assumed that the self-reported demography (ethnicity, gender, and grade level) is sufficiently free of error Fourth, the variance in reported grades is assumed to reflect random effects of bias among teachers Fifth, it is assumed that the error in student accuracy in reporting grades is randomly dispersed

Their real problem was that they assumed themselves able to formulate the questions and ignored the fact that the questions were every bit as important as the answers Robert Ornstein

The aim of science is to seek the simplest explanation of complex facts We are apt to fall into the error of thinking that the facts are simple because simplicity is the goal of our quest The guiding motto in the life of every natural philosopher should be, "Seek simplicity and distrust it." Alfred North Whitehead

Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity

of imagination John Dewey

General Research Hypotheses

The word "Hypothesis" comes from the Greek meaning groundwork, foundation, or support It is tentatively advanced to explain observed facts or phenomenon A hypothesis is a shrewd guess, an assumption,

an opinion, a hunch, or informal judgment It helps guide the research methods of the study Theory or a substantial knowledge base simplifies the development and defense for hypotheses Hypotheses cannot emerge from nothing, there must be a rationale for each Each hypothesis must

be testable, and tested with the data collected

The General Research Hypotheses section presents in general terms the research questions Constructs are mentioned, not the operational measures of those constructs The hypotheses should be derived logically from the Statement of the Problem section A thesis or dissertation usually includes no more than five general research hypotheses Exhibit 1.5 contains an example of three general research hypotheses from one dissertation

Exhibit 1.5 Example of a General Research Hypothesis section

1 There is a relationship between the frequency of CAl use and achievement test scores when one controls for ability level

2 There is a significant relationship between the frequency of CAl use, instruction received, and assigned grades when controlling for ability level, SES, ethnicity, and gender

3 There is an interaction between the frequency of CAl use and ability level in predicting achievement when controlling for ability level

The Problem 19

Significance of the Study

The Significance of the Study section justifies the need for the

study's contribution to the field Grounds for the research might rest on

one-page significance of the study, as in Exhibit 1.6

Delimitations

The Delimitations section focuses on the context or the boundaries

Exhibit 1.6 Significance of the Study section from a dissertation

Significance of the Study

Computer assisted instruction effectiveness has been investigated extensively over the past 10 years (Kulik & Kulik, 1985; Moursund,

students at different ability levels and for different content areas The

Exhibit 1.7 Delimitations from a dissertation

Delimitations

delimitations Items measure only the degree (quantity) of CAl are used

self-reported grades and scores on the Standard Achievement Test

Since there are six years between pretest and posttest, the sample is delimited to those students who were available both times The sample does not contain participants who were mobile or not inclined to answer achievement questions

investigator chooses to include and to leave out Examples are the population to be sampled, selection criteria, and demographic data included in data analysis Exhibit 1.7 contains an example of a Delimitations section from a dissertation The Delimitations section should not be confused with the Limitations section, those factors over which the investigator has no contro\ Some examples of limitations would be the time of day a class meets, the response rate to a mailed

in chapter 3, as they become apparent after the data has been collected

Those who write clearly have readers, those who write obscurely have commen.tators Camus

In science, each new point of view calls forth a revolution in nomenclature Firedrich Engels

Definitions and Operational Terms

frequently used terms within the study These words and phrases selected

The Problem 21

are based on a scientific foundation: that is, distinctions are made between a constitutive definition and an operational definition The former defines a term's meaning by using other words; the latter assigns meaning according to specific operations necessary to measure it (Kerlinger, 1986) It is especially important to operationally define terms that take on a different definition from more commonly accepted definitions that might be assumed by the reader

It may seem difficult to decide just what should be included in the list of operational definitions First, one could begin with the terms used

in the general research hypotheses For example, from a study guided by

a general research hypothesis about gender and job satisfaction the researcher should define the term "job satisfaction" in an operational way, i.e., how it will be measured in the study

Secondly, the researcher should note terms that have more than one definition in the literature, or are written about differently by different theorists "Job satisfaction" in the above example has been written about

by various authors The researcher must provide the one definition applicable to the present study

The definitions can be obtained from a dictionary or a professional reference source It will often be the case that scholars you reference will have developed their own definition Or, you can review the various definitions that have surfaced in the literature review, and synthesize your own definition, showing why it is more appropriate than the other definitions

Because the manuscript is targeted to an academic audience, it is unnecessary to exhaustively define every term that a lay audience would not understand One should keep the academic audience in mind and review the list with one's advisor to decide appropriate terms to include

in this section Exhibit 1.8 contains the definitions of our CAl

TIP: All of the variables in each research hypothesis, purpose, or question should be defined Also, define any attribute of your population Theories and models should also be defined

TIP: If an unpublished instrument was used, the whole instrument should be reproduced in an appendix to operationally define the variable TIP: Operational definitions should be sufficiently specific so that another investigator can replicate the study